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Calam, from Plymouth, was cleared of one charge but guilty of the second.

The Environment Agency prosecuted the case.

Prosecutor Judith Constable said: “This case is about fly tipping at a Dartmoor field entrance, blocking the entrance.

“You can take your waste to a recycling centre,” she told the jury, “but it is not the same for skip businesses. They have to pay to get rid of waste and the business of skip businesses is they receive money to hire out skips and generally they have to pay to get rid of waste. That’s the cash flow of the business. They have to pay to dispose of waste and if they fly tip you can see the economic benefit to the skip business.”

Farmer, Courtney Heard, saw the rubbish had been dumped at an access to his field in February 2017.

They were shocked to find it had been dumped illegally and in a gesture of goodwill to the farmer - who otherwise would have had to pay the costs himself - agreed to pay the full price for its removal.

In his defence Calam, of Seaview Avenue, Plymouth, told the jury one of his driver's drove the rubbish to another skip operator. He did not know what happened to it after that.

He said he had never visited the farm, did not know who dumped the rubbish or know the Okehampton area very well.